I Was Raised After Being a Mermaid - Chap 43
Chap 43
: Mate
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Kiramekineko
Norman connected the little mermaid’s terminal to the live ball and taught the little mermaid how to adjust the shooting mode. In his heart, the little mermaid was a child with adult intelligence; he consciously guided the little mermaid to grow up, so he did not directly adjust it, but taught the little mermaid.
An Jin learned very seriously, both hands on the shore, head close to watch Norman explain the control interface. Norman was on the shore; he was in the water. Norman was tall; he was slender. He was close enough to listen, almost close to Norman’s arms.
Norman’s breath stalled slightly, and he barely managed to keep his voice steady and natural sounding. “You try.”
An Jin’s terminal took control of the live ball, switched modes, and demonstrated a few times. The little mermaid looked down to operate the terminal, long eyelashes up, red lips slightly pursed. He looked extra serious and also looked very cute.
Norman’s heart itched, and his fingers moved, especially wanting to touch the little mermaid, but afraid of scaring the little mermaid, he restrained himself. Thinking that the little mermaid would be seen by many people, his brown eyes sank slightly. “An An.”
An Jin looked up and blinked, indicating doubt.
Norman’s expression was serious, his tone serious. “It’s office hours during the day, and there are few people watching the live broadcast. I think it would be better to broadcast live after dinner every day, since there are many viewers.”
He said all the truth, however, his heart was still weak; the small mermaid’s identity was not ordinary, and even if it was office hours, as long as even one person found him in the live, the popularity would definitely whoosh up.
In private, he hoped that the little mermaid would broadcast live at night, not only so he could watch the whole time, but also to help.
An Jin thought about it and agreed with Norman. His little head nodded. “Mn, I’ll broadcast after dinner.” He was not worried about popularity, but his daily life would not be affected if he broadcasted after dinner.
He had to go to the holographic world in the morning to remove impurities, but also to learn to recognize words, and in the afternoon to practice his ability. Norman was home at night, so he could not exercise, but he could go live.
Thinking about it this way, he sighed: he was so busy .
It was a pity that he became illiterate once, otherwise it would be much easier, and it was good that his learning ability had been strengthened.
Norman saw the little mermaid sigh, thought the little mermaid was disappointed, and his heart could not help but blame himself.
The little mermaid didn’t know anything, so he believed whatever he said, and he took advantage of the little mermaid’s naivety for selfish reasons. So he changed his tune. “Actually, if you want to go live during the day you can. I was just talking about people in general. You are a pure color mermaid, no need to worry about popularity at all.”
An Jin smiled and shook his head. “I think it’s better at night.”
Norman was happy and rubbed the top of the little mermaid’s hair.
An Jin thought about it and asked, “Which platform do you think is better to broadcast on?”
“Tang Rin has a live platform under his name, Star Ocean Live. I’ll have my special assistant give you the highest share of the contract!”
An Jin’s main purpose was not to make money, but to make money was considered an unexpected pleasure; after all, after he lived as a human he needed to have money.
Although the type A agent was worth a lot of money, that part of the money earned was mainly used for “ransom”. He could not help but look at Norman, and did not know whether Norman would agree.
But Norman had admitted that they were the same, so he should agree to it, right? He was ready to talk to Norman about selling type A agent before, but now he decided to postpone it and talk to Norman again after his identity became independent.
After all, before his identity became independent, he belonged to Norman, and by definition, the money he earned, also belonged to Norman. His thoughts returned to the matter at hand, and thinking of the terms of contracts in the previous world, he couldn’t help but worry. “Can I sign a contract even if I don’t have an ID card?”
“Sign a contract with my ID and bind your account.”
He said this in a heartbeat since he liked the little mermaid; not only did he want the little mermaid to be attached to him, but he also wanted the little mermaid to be his mate.
But his status and the status of the little mermaid were completely unequal.
Even if they became mates, it should be an equal relationship. But the little mermaid’s current social status was as a pet, not an independent intelligent creature with ID. He immediately had an idea in his mind, and became more attentive to the little mermaid’s live broadcast.
He contacted his special assistant and asked him to send a high share contract, binding the receiving account to the little mermaid’s personal account and signing the contract in his name. The special assistant received the successfully signed contract and was shocked to see the real name “Norman Leysin”.
Leysin was the last name of the royal family of Siao, and for this name, there was absolutely no homonym. He hurriedly sent a message to his boss: [Mr. Tang! Is it true that His Majesty has registered as the anchor of Star Ocean?]
Norman replied with Tang Rin’s account: [Yes, when the broadcast starts, arrange more room management.]
The special assistant: [Don’t worry, as long as there have been bad comments posted, all of them will be blocked.]
Immediately after, the assistant asked: [Do you want to arrange a super tube? Do we need to advertise His Majesty?]
Norman: [No, I don’t think so.]
After signing the contract, Norman switched the live ball to Star Ocean Live and said to the little mermaid, “When going live, just turn it on directly.”
An Jin nodded and after some thought said, “I’ll live stream at night when you get back.”
He wanted to gradually let the audience realize that he had a high IQ, step by step, and it was more reasonable to have Norman with him for the first live broadcast, and then open the live broadcast alone later.
He decided to observe the receptiveness of the Siao people at night, and if it was great, he would speed up the progress and proceed to the step of learning the language as soon as possible, and if it was not so good, he would take his time.
Norman was pleased that the young mermaid’s idea of waiting for him to return before going live coincided with his. He returned to the military, although with a million points of reluctance, but he knew very well that, as long as the live broadcast showed the little mermaid, it would certainly explode all over the network.
Since this was the case, why not let the little mermaid be happier?
What’s more, the more people there were, the easier his plan would be to carry out. He opened Smooth Talk and logged into his private account: [Tonight at 7:30, Star Ocean Live platform, An An will go live.]
Within a minute of posting it, the comments exploded.
[? Am I dreaming?]
[I’ll lie back and sleep again.]
[Ahhhhh! I finally get to see the little mermaid again! Thanks to His Majesty.]
[Now I’ll have no heart to work! Hurry up and get to night! Aaaaahhh!]
[No heart to work +1.]
Starnet’s topic about “pure color mermaid live” quickly exploded, with people squatting inside the topic post waiting for the start of the broadcast.
An Jin knew nothing about this. After Norman left, he first went to the holographic world to clear the skewer impurities, and then checked the balance. The balance of his personal account had exceeded half a million!
An Jin deeply felt that this job was really great: he only spent a small amount of time every day. The holographic world consumed spiritual power without affecting the real world, it was equivalent to a no-brainer.
After getting offline, he leaned against a large crab and floated on the surface of the water to watch the instructional video. When he learned the word “jin”, his eyes lit up and he immediately followed the recitation several times, cycling his hands on the surface of the water until he remembered it.
In the afternoon, when Norman walked into the mermaid room, he saw the little mermaid with his hands on the shore, and as soon as she saw him, his eyes lit up and he smiled brightly. His mood soared and he went to squat down in front of the little mermaid. “Why are you so happy?”
An Jin opened the terminal and brought up the virtual screen, on which there were only two words that had been typed long ago: An Jin.
He pointed to the screen, his tone was excited as he said, “My name.”
Norman was slightly stunned. “An Jin?”
An Jin nodded and he thought for a moment. “An An is a nickname, and An Jin is my formal name.”
Norman realized that the little mermaid’s mind was already very much on the human side, even to the concept of naming. He praised, “Very good name, An An is so smart!”
An Jin’s eyes curled, happy to hear Norman’s praise. This was the name his grandfather had given him, and he loved and cherished it. Norman looked at the little mermaid. The little mermaid was a strong learner, and was growing fast. Perhaps soon, he would be able to really grow up and understand feelings. His heart could not help but beat much faster.
He secretly decided to get the little mermaid’s ID card as soon as possible.
An Jin was so happy that he ordered a few big dishes for dinner to celebrate, and also ordered watermelon juice that was a bright red color and looked festive.
Keeping this good mood, he was ready to start the live broadcast. He looked down and checked his dress and fishtail skirt to make sure they were all neat and tidy, thought about it, and untied his hair, leaving it draped behind him and the hair band on his wrist.
When it suited him, he could put up his hair with a tie and show off his hands!
The little mermaid’s delicate face was blocked by the hair, becoming smaller, and Norman’s heart jumped. The little mermaid was so fascinating to him.
And at that moment, the little mermaid turned his head and smiled at him, his eyes half-curved. “I’m ready to turn on the live stream.”
Norman instantly felt like a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old boy; he could not control the speed of his heart.
At least he could maintain a serious face all year round, and his face still looked unperturbed and not out of shape. “Do it. I’ll be right next to you.”
The robot moved a sofa chair and put it in front of the shelf; Norman sat down and was just outside the live camera range.
An Jin turned on the live screen, waited for Norman to sit down, and turned on the live ball. He looked at the panel and was surprised to find that the number of fans was actually not zero, but was instead, very, very high, followed by a string of zeros, and before he could look at them clearly, he was stunned by the crazy scrolling pop-ups.
In the blink of an eye, the popularity of the live stream instantly skyrocketed, and the pop-ups were stuck. Luckily, the special assistant learned that the mermaid was going to start the broadcast, and had made the relevant arrangements long ago, and the jam was quickly restored.
[Ahhhhh, An An is still so beautiful!]
[So good, actually watching cartoons, too cute, right?]
[I thought it was a beautiful teenager without looking at the tail.]
[Wow, the little mermaid’s fingers are so long and slender, he doesn’t have long nails.]
[Hey, the long nails are back.]
An Jin occasionally glanced at the pop-ups, but they were so fast that he couldn’t see them at all. He thought about it and decided to test the audience’s reaction first. He clicked on the control panel of the virtual screen and selected the intelligent pop-up mode to sift through the duplicate pop-ups, which suddenly became much fresher.
[Oh my God, he can actually operate the panel.]
[I saw it! It was the little mermaid who moved his hand, not His Majesty!]
[I’m jealous, where’s a good and smart mermaid, give me one too!]
[There’s everything in your dream, you can get it if you sleep.]
An Jin found that the audience did not seem to be surprised and had an initial judgment in his heart about the audience’s receptiveness. His eyes curled and he continued to watch the cartoon, not saying a word the whole time, with a look of obsession.
The pop-ups, however, never stopped, and the words “cute”, “good boy”, and “want” appeared frequently.
An Jin’s cheek was slightly itchy from his hair, and he raised his hand to hook the hair behind his ear, and put his hand back on his abdomen again—a good and coquettish look.
With such a simple action, a bunch of screaming monsters appeared on the pop-up screen, all of them saying: [ahhhh ……]
An Jin unintentionally looked at the pop-ups and couldn’t help but feel his cheeks burning. Even through the screen, he could feel the enthusiasm of the audience. His eyes lit up slightly, this was good for him; the more the audience liked him, the easier it was to accept his differences.
Norman and Hornád, for example, were quick to accept.
In the cartoon, Joey’s class was holding a cultural performance, and Joey walked to the podium and sang a children’s song, to the applause of the students on stage. An Jin blinked, raised his hand, and clapped along, his eyes shining brightly, just like the children’s expressions.
[He’s so cute, I’ve taken a screenshot of the applause!]
[Why do I feel that he is imitating them?]
[The little mermaid’s eyes are so beautiful and flexible, he is so smart!]
[I’m not going to lie, I swallowed a lemon, I’m so jealous of His Majesty, I want a mermaid like that too.]
[Want +1]
Norman sat on the sofa cushion, watching the pop-ups and looking up at the little mermaid from time to time. Sure enough, just as he thought, the little mermaid was very pleasing to the eye.
When he saw the little mermaid’s applause, his eyes couldn’t help but flash with thoughts that the little mermaid was deliberately imitating the cartoon.
He knew the little mermaid very well, and an action like clapping was one that the little mermaid simply did not need to learn, at this time this look was obviously deliberate.
In his head, he inexplicably thought of the little mermaid speaking.
At that time, the little mermaid was also like this, imitating the main character of the cartoon, but then learned to talk. He flashed a guess quickly and looked at the little mermaid in surprise, could it be what he was thinking?
Could it be that the little mermaid could actually talk long ago, and just because of caution, did not open his mouth, to make sure that even talking was safe, before opening his mouth to speak?
If this was true that would mean that the little mermaid was a lot more mature-minded than he thought, and smarter than he thought he was. His brown eyes flashed darkly, his eyes sweeping over the little mermaid’s face, eyes flashing with amusement as he dropped them. His heart was beating fast, even as he desperately wanted to verify his suspicions with the little mermaid.
It was not the right time yet, he reminded himself, resisting the impulse. He didn’t want to disturb the little mermaid’s plans and wanted to see what else the little mermaid would do. The way the little mermaid was acting now, it was clearly a deliberate display of intelligence.
The smile in Norman’s eyes deepened, in exactly the same way as when he was shown the language ability step by step. He scanned through the “want little mermaid” type of pop-ups; his eyes narrowed slightly, and he anonymously sent two words “dream on”.
Suddenly, a pop-up screen swept by and Norman’s face fell.
[Ahhhhh. The little Mermaid is so nice, he’d be a great wife. I want to marry him.]
[Your Majesty, from today onwards, you are my father-in-law.]
Norman’s face immediately darkened. He originally wanted to see more of the little mermaid’s next plans, ready to strike later; now, he could not restrain himself. He walked to the edge of the pool and entered the range of the camera.
[His Majesty is so handsome!]
[His Majesty in his regular clothes looks like he has a good temper!]
Norman called warmly, “An An, come here.”
An Jin subconsciously turned around and looked at him with some confusion, saw him beckoning, hesitated for a moment, and swam over with his tail swinging. He swam to the edge of the pool, holding his hand on the pool bank, his head tilted, showing a puzzled look.
The pop-up screen was again full of: [ahhhhhh!]
[His Majesty’s little mermaid is too good, right?]
[I think I want it, Your Majesty, sell it to me, please.]
[Why is he so obedient? His Majesty’s tone of voice is so gentle.]
Norman looked at the virtual screen that had been deliberately enlarged; An Jin followed his gaze and frowned, his lips slightly pursed. Norman immediately sensed that the little mermaid was depressed and his eyes moved slightly.
The little mermaid should have self-awareness, so he was not happy to see those pop-ups.
This made him even more determined to follow the original plan.
An Jin turned his head in surprise to see Norman looking at the live ball and saying with a serious face, “Introducing my mate, An Jin.”
An Jin froze. Before, Norman was so good to him, and now, he couldn’t help but agree with Little Silver that he was a mermaid master. How could it be mate!
Frozen, he suddenly realized the deeper meaning of the word, and his heart suddenly beat fast, his blue eyes looking at Norman in surprise.
Norman did not care about the fast-scrolling pop-ups, seeing the little mermaid frozen, and thinking that the little mermaid was frightened by him. He rubbed the top of the little mermaid’s hair as he looked into the live ball, his gaze no longer gentle but extra sharp, adding, “Technically, he’s the mate I’ve identified and am pursuing. He’s very smart and very cute, and I’m obsessed with him.”
The warm and soft touch on the top of his head made An Jin come back to his senses, only to hear such a sentence again, and his whole brain was in a dazed state. He reacted and turned off the live broadcast in a hurry.
[????]
[What’s wrong? Are my ears ringing?]
[I heard His Majesty’s confession, and the confession was made to a mermaid.]
[I heard it too! Oh my God, is this a live movie?]
[I can’t believe it, but the Little Mermaid is so pretty and obedient and quiet and nice, if it were me, I’d want a mate like that too.]
[I want a mate like this plus one, who can save my heart and look good, and can restore my spiritual power!]
[Oh my god, I’m getting the feeling that a mermaid is the best choice for a human mate.]
[Wake up, do you think mermaids are all like An An? You haven’t experienced how sharp a mermaid’s claws are, have you?]
[Why did he cut off the live broadcast? I still want to watch!]
[What do you want to look at? Didn’t you see His Majesty’s fierce eyes?]
An Jin’s emotions rose and fell dramatically, his fingers clenched into fists, and he took a deep breath before his brain finally started to work. He looked at Norman, a little nervous. “Why did you…say that?”
Norman sensed the little mermaid’s nervousness and panic and his eyes twitched slightly. Reminding himself not to scare the little mermaid, he asked, “An An, what is the purpose of your live broadcast?”
An Jin froze, not expecting him to ask this question again. “As I said before, I want everyone to be like me, to feel that we are the same.”
“So you want to make the audience slowly realize that you are smart and have the ability to learn through the live broadcast, and later you plan to speak interstellar language, right?”
An Jin wasn’t surprised that Norman could see that, after all it was obvious from his performance tonight. “Hmm.”
“I told you, I’ll help you.”
An Jin squeezed his fingers. “But, why did you say that?”
“I want everyone to know that I’m pursuing you because you’re independent-minded, very intelligent, and I’m attracted to you.”
To his deep brown eyes, An Jin’s heart thumped wildly. “Thank you. Actually you don’t need to come down personally, just anonymously bring the rhythm of me being very smart in the pop-ups.”
He did not expect at all that Norman would actually bring rhythm like this. He rationalized that Norman’s approach was so effective that even Norman stated that he was smart, even smart enough to let Norman “woo him”.
Then the Siao people must have been extra interested in his cleverness and would pay more attention to him when watching the live broadcast again. When it turned out that he was indeed smart, they would unconsciously agree with Norman’s statement.
This was obviously more efficient than letting the audience slowly realize that he was smart when he was live. Although reason analyzed it that way, Norman’s words still gave him a big shock, not to mention Norman’s eyes were so sincere that he almost misunderstood. He averted his eyes in a panic. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’m doing myself a favor too.”
An Jin raised his eyes in confusion and Norman looked at him seriously. “An An, you are a mermaid but special, and I want to help you apply for intelligent creature determination. I’m sure you can pass. You should have your own ID.”
An Jin froze, and Norman met the little mermaid’s frozen eyes and rubbed the top of the little mermaid’s hair. “An An wants to become an independent individual and no longer be dependent on humans?”
An Jin immediately nodded, only to feel extraordinarily disbelieving and a little confused in his head. “You…this is not good for you.”
If he became independent, Norman would no longer be able to own him, and Norman needed him very much to provide spiritual power.
Norman was slightly flabbergasted; he did not expect the little mermaid to say this sentence, which showed that the little mermaid was very clear about his importance.
“After An An becomes independent, will you continue to provide spiritual power for me?” Norman asked.
“Of course I will!” An Jin subconsciously replied.
A smile flashed in Norman’s eyes. “Then it’s a deal, after An An becomes independent, I will hire An An to continue to provide spiritual power for me.”
Things had gone beyond An Jin’s expectations, but with Norman’s help, it would obviously be easier for him to achieve his goal. Only, his original plan was to use independence and then leave to live as a human being. He wondered if he became independent, would he be able to leave with confidence?
The answer was no, he would worry about Norman, and, as he was not able to remain in human form at all times, staying in the capital of Siao would undoubtedly be the safest as well. He nodded. “Okay.”
He still had doubts in his eyes. Norman was not doing this for himself. What if he refused to hire him? Not to mention, definitely owning was much more solid than hiring. He didn’t hold back and asked; it was too hard to keep such doubts pressed into his heart.
Norman met the young mermaid’s puzzled eyes and said seriously, “I like you, and I want to be with you, and it’s only fair to you that you have an independent identity.”
An Jin was stunned in place, he had never thought Norman would like him.
Norman was very good, the best one among the men he knew, and if it was the old world, he might have thought something about it. After all, he liked men, and when faced with an excellent male, how could he not have ideas?
It’s just that after he came to this world, survival was the first thing. After he realized that his identity was a pet and there was no threat to his survival, he hadn’t thought much about what ideas he had about people.
Norman saw the little mermaid stay in place and said in a warm voice, “It’s okay that An An doesn’t understand, you are still young, and I will wait for you to grow up. After certifying intelligent beings, I will apply to become your guardian,” he said, opening the terminal and passing a material to the little mermaid. “This is the curriculum of the Siao primary department. You first study at home to familiarize yourself with it, and later, after having an independent identity, then make another arrangement.” He said seriously, “If you don’t understand anything, you can ask me.”
Before An Jin could recover from his confession, he was overwhelmed by a mountain of materials to study.
After Becoming A Mermaid
